Record Atlas
4 eras · 1797–2026 · 16 places

Rhenish Hesse

Mainz, Worms, Bingen, Alzey, Oppenheim. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.

Whose archive this ground was

YearsWho held itWhose archive that means
1797–1814 France — Mont-Tonnerre department FamilySearch

Formed in 1797 when France annexed the west bank of the Rhine, with Mainz as its capital.
1814–1918 Grand Duchy of Hesse — Rhenish Hesse Archion · FamilySearch

After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 the department was divided between Bavaria and Hesse; the Congress of Vienna gave Hesse Rhenish Hesse, including the fortress of Mainz.
1918–1945 People's State of Hesse Archion · Bundesarchiv
1945–2026 Germany — Rhineland-Palatinate Archion · Bundesarchiv

The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.

See the whole span, 1797–2026, on the map →

The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.

16 places on this ground

88 FamilySearch collections reach this ground

Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.

…and 28 more.

All record regions · The map